Page 93 of A Kiss of Hammer and Flame

‘And if this is all a ploy? If Atriposte and Decimus refuse to exchange Prince Thierre, to keep him – andyou– in line, in order to secure the weapon for themselves?’

Cahra took a deep breath. They wouldn’t… Would they? ‘Like I said—’

Thelaema exploded, the full weight of the Oracle’s Nether-magicks sizzling with the smoky purple of her gaze. ‘This is not altruism. It is not even your ill-defined feelings for the Prince of Luminaux, which a non-Seer could see, clear as daybreak,’ she said, Cahra flushing. ‘This is you martyring yourself because you arepetrifiedto entertain the thought that you might deserve this destiny, your own rule – instead endorsing Thierre: the pretty Prince and an easy choice for unsaddling your duties.’ Cahra froze as Thelaema added, ‘When, precisely, are you planning to stop running from your responsibilities?’

Cahra could feel the remnants of Hael’s powers flare through her, their stinging heat, as she flung the words, ‘Howdareyou! Whose fault is it that I might doubt myself, or any of my so-called gifts, compared to someone who’s been born and raised as aPrince, trained and ready to rule at a moment’s notice? You are despicable—’

Thelaema sighed as she muttered, ‘As useful as communing with the desert sands.’ She fixed her gaze on Cahra. ‘Will you hearken to anything I say, or is divulging who I believe to be blocking my sight just as futile?’

Cahra was about ready to loop her hands around the Oracle’s wrinkled neck, but she managed to contain the impulse.

‘What? Who?’

Thelaema exhaled again. ‘Grauwynn, High Oracularus of the Order of Descry.’

‘I thought you were the last of the Oracles,’ Cahra said slowly, thinking back to their ride to Luminaux.

‘As did I.’ Thelaema’s face was grim. ‘And yet, I believe my deduction to be truth. When I shared your proposal with Atriposte and Decimus, minutes passed before King Royce received a message in kind. Only another Oracle, a spiritual leader, might command that level of connection to the All-seeing, tenuous as the Seers’ is since Hael’stromia was lost to us.’ She looked troubled.

Cahra asked, ‘You never sensed anyone other than yourself might have survived?’

Apparently, her guess was right. ‘Not in the four centuries since the capital’s fall,’ Thelaema told her.

‘And no ordinary Seer could have learned to share their thoughts with others?’ Cahra frowned, trying to understand. Hael’s connection to the Netherworld was mystery enough, never mind the Seers and the All-Seeing. Or how it had granted Thelaema such long life.

Thelaema shook her head. ‘No. It is beyond us now, beyond our diluted source.’

‘But this source, the capital’s magick, it kept you alive and kept them alive too. Why? And why did this Oracularus not make contact earlier? Why only now?’

‘All valid questions.’ The Oracle pursed her lips. ‘I have been unable to perceive him. Perhaps he also experienced this.’ Thelaema’s eyes flickered to Cahra. ‘Regardless, what is troubling is not “why now”. It is that he speaks from the side of those who side against us. Against you.’

And if Grauwynn, a High Oracle, has powers like Thelaema’s?

Troubling isn’t the word for it. ‘Does he know I have the Key?’

‘I omitted its mention,’ Thelaema told her. ‘Given that I bestowed it, that may block Grauwynn’s grasp of the omen’s passing. However, as old Hael’stromia’s High Oracularus, I would not count on that safeguarding us for long. He will learn of it, one way or another.’

Despite everything the Oracle had said, Cahra felt like she was back where she started.

Echoing the same question as earlier, she said, ‘So what do I need to do? Whatcanwe do?’ Her throat felt as arid as the capital’s black sands she would encounter for the first time.First, and maybe last.

Thelaema’s gaze met Cahra’s. ‘You know what you can do. Seek out the Reliquus. Replenish his powers. Enter Hael’stromia with something other than naiveté in your arsenal.’

Cahra cut her a glare, then turned from Thelaema. The thought had occurred to her, somewhere in the dark alleyways of her mind. The memory of what she’d almost done to that soldier in the caves, what could happen if she gave in to Hael’s black rage. But if she went to Hael now and told him of her plan, asking for more power, she knew exactly how he’d react. Giving herself to her enemies to save Thierre? It flew in the face of Hael’s duty as her shield; he’d never forgive it. Which was why she’d not called on him. He’d be absolutely enraged, and afraid for her. Not without good reason.

So no, she wouldn’t make contact with Hael. At least, not yet. She’d need to shut him out for as long as possible. It was the only way she’d be able to keep the promise she’d made, to help Thierre.

Cahra gave her great-hammer a practice swing, the Haellium as dark as the crisis that was brewing outside the capital.

She turned back to Thelaema, still thinking of that soldier in the caves.

‘You gave me this in lieu of the weapon. I’m enough before I put Hael’stromia’s own to good use,’ Cahra told her.

But the look in the Oracle’s eyes said what Cahra was thinking.

Enough – for now.

Cahra barely slept that day. Rest came in dreamless, surface bursts, leaving her tired and threaded with tension, but resolved. When she did manage to eat, the bread and cheese tasted like sawdust, each forced bite churning in her stomach. Then the call to move out boomed through Luminaux’s dining room, scattering soldiers whose boots thundered like a war drum in time with her pounding heart.

---